


Nexus/Sward

by seraphichan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragons, F/M, Mage Pidge, OR i created very specific lore with no context other than 'this sounds kinda neat', its time for a mystical date quest, so i wrote it out with these two, warrior shiro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-02-28
Packaged: 2018-09-27 13:34:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10022825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seraphichan/pseuds/seraphichan
Summary: Trekking into dragon country is not what Shiro would consider fine. It’s not what he had in mind when Pidge said “Let’s go on a date” either, but here they are.





	

Shiro hears a distant roar and comes to a halt, one hand flying to the hilt of his sword, the other lifting up to stop Pidge.

“We should go back,” he says.

“It’ll be fine,” Pidge answers, ducking under his arm and continuing to walk through the forest.

“If you say so,” Shiro sighs as he follows after her.

“I know so.”

Trekking into dragon country is not what Shiro would consider fine. It’s not what he had in mind when Pidge said “Let’s go on a date” either, but here they are. It has him on edge, his eyes flitting around at every shake of a leaf or shift of a shadow.

“You’re so twitchy,” Pidge comments.

“I believe the word you’re looking for is wary.”

“Whatever it is, we’re here,” she says slowing to a stop.

They come to the edge of the forest, or, rather, what’s left of it. The trees here have been all but wiped out creating a barren glade of charred earth with a sunken crater at the center. It’s a common sight in lands inhabited by dragons and it’s making Shiro nervous that they are so close to one.

“Are you sure it’s absolutely necessary that we come here?”

“Yes. Now hush.” Pidge drops her pack and kneels down, rummaging in the pockets. She stands again once she pulls out a small cloth pouch, and from that pulls out a seed the size of a peach pit.

“Wait here,” she says stepping out into the open.

“Whoa, hold on a minute.” Shiro grabs her arm and pulls her back. “You can’t go down there.”

“I can and will,” she says stubbornly, yanking her arm out of his grasp.

“At least let me come with you.”

“It'll be faster if I go alone.”

“But it’s so...open.”

“I have a spell for that. It’ll last me long enough to get there and back with time to spare.”

Shiro frowns. “I don’t like it.”

“I’m not asking you to like it. Just cover me if something goes wrong.”

Pidge turns away from him and begins to mumble a spell. She says it quickly and quietly, and then...

She disappears.

Cloaking. Very clever. But how is he supposed to cover her if he can’t see her?

Shiro groans and watches and waits, barely breathing as he does so, his leg shaking impatiently.

“Done.”

Shiro jumps and turns to look down at the seeable-once-more Pidge who snorts at him in laughter.

“So we can go now?” he asks hopefully.

“No,” she says sitting on a patch of grass beneath an old oak.

“Why not?”

“Be patient. You’ll see.” Pidge pats the ground next to her and Shiro, knowing that any argument at this point is futile, sits as well.

It isn’t long before a dragon wanders through, nostrils flaring and eyes roving the decimated area cautiously. It smells them, probably, and Shiro tenses, ready to run at any moment. To his surprise, though, it’s sniffing snout points it towards the center of the crater and it wanders that way instead.

“Is it...going towards that seed you planted?”

Pidge hums in affirmation. “Now watch.”

The dragon comes to a halt, snuffling at the ground before spreading its wings and taking flight. It hovers for a moment before opening its mouth and breathing fire below it. Before the dragon even lands the earth starts to glow, and from the middle of that glow a green stalk sprouts from the ground, shooting up until it stands as tall as Shiro. A bud forms and the petals unfurl into a large, bright red flower that releases pearlescent spores. They drift through the air, floating to the ground which pulses upon their landing, a small patch of grass sprouting in their wake.

“Wow,” Shiro whispers in awe.

“Pretty cool, right?”

“Yeah, it’s great. But I still don’t understand why we had to come all the way to dragon country to plant this seed.”

Aside from the name - Dragon's Gem because of its rarity and color - Shiro isn't sure of the correlation between the plant and the beast, and it certainly doesn’t explain why the trip was necessary. There is a festival held each year where the High Mage makes one of the seeds sprout and bloom with fire, much like the one Pidge planted is doing now. Granted the display is nowhere as beautiful, but Pidge isn’t one to go to such lengths to be impressed by something that’s ‘pretty’.

“How do you think the dragon looks? Now compared to when it first came?” Pidge asks.

It seems like an odd question, but Shiro takes a moment to consider the beast. He watches as the dragon prances around the flower, then falls over and rolls on the newly grown grass, its scales shimmering in the light of the spores.

“Happier?” Shiro answers eventually. “Healthier?”

“Ding, ding. Dragons, despite the size and the scales and the fire, are actually quite delicate.” Pidge is quiet for a moment, then she asks, “Shiro, why do you think dragons attack people?”

“I’m guessing ‘because they want to eat us’ is wrong?”

“It is. Dragons only raze areas with fire in the hopes that one of these flowers will bloom after they’ve done it. And they only torch human settlements because that’s the only place you can find one of them anymore. We’ve destroyed their natural growth in the wild, taken the plant entirely for ourselves.

“Did you know we waste the full potential of the flower by making them bloom with synthetic dragon fire or fae fire? That, if germinated in the proper way, the flower would not fade after one night? That it would provides benefits to the flora and fauna of an environment continually up to five years before going to seed?” 

“I didn’t. How do you know?”

Pidge adjusts her glasses. “I may or may not have stumbled across some banned texts in my studies.”

“And so,” Shiro says, the pieces falling into place, “you stole a seed from a High Mage and took it here to see if what is written in those texts is true.”

“Mm-hm.” She pauses. “If you rat me out I’ll turn you into a toad.”

Shiro chuckles, eyes turning back to the glade. He ducks on instinct at the swooping shadow and sudden gust of wind brought by the scaly wings of another dragon. It circles the flower in the sky before landing and romping happily with the other dragon.

“If these are our date nights now, I’m going to have to up my game,” Shiro muses after a few moments.

He feels Pidge’s shoulders shake in laughter as she leans against his arm and takes his hand.

“You’ll think of something,” she says.

“If you say so,” Shiro sighs as he rests his chin on top of her head.

“I know so.”

Shiro smiles faintly and they spend the rest of the night watching the Dragon Gem bloom.


End file.
